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A New Study Suggests Tainted Talcum Powder Can Cause a Rare Cancer. Here's How That Could Play Out in the Courtroom

A new 33-patient case study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine provides some of the strongest proof yet that exposure to asbestos-tainted talcum powder may cause malignant mesothelioma, a rare and deadly cancer that affects tissues lining internal organs.
This isn’t only an important scientific discovery—it could also give new ammunition to plaintiffs in the thousands of cases brought against brands selling talcum-powder-based products alleged to cause cancer, like Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder.
“It’s very, very hard, in general, to prove exactly what caused your specific case of disease,” says Steve Gold, a professor at Rutgers Law School who specializes in toxic and hazardous substances. “If a credible physician and researcher is willing to testify and has published that these individual cancers appear to be caused by asbestos exposure from talcum powder, that’s evidence that is usually not available to plaintiffs. That’s very powerful.”
Asbestos is a group of naturally occurring fibrous minerals that’s considered a human carcinogen by the World Health Organization and other public health groups. It is linked to mesothelioma, ovarian cancer and lung cancer. Among other places, it’s found in building supplies, insulation, some car parts—and the talc from which talcum powder is made. (Talc also turns up in cosmetics like blush and facial makeup.) Since the 1970s, manufacturers have pledged to use talc that is free from detectable levels of asbestos, but there is still little regulation over the cosmetic industry, and concerns about asbestos contamination persist. A bombshell 2018 Reuters report also found that J&J knew for decades that some of its Baby Powder was tainted by asbestos, but did not report that information publicly or to federal regulators.
J&J has also for years been under fire in the courtroom. In March, for example, a California jury awarded more than $29 million to a woman who claimed talcum-powder-based J&J products contributed to her mesothelioma. The year before, a jury ordered J&J to pay more than $4 billion in damages to a group of women who claimed its products caused them to develop ovarian cancer. And in 2016, the consumer products giant was ordered to pay $55 million to a woman who said Baby Powder contributed to her ovarian cancer.

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